This week Campus Target celebrated the completion of a goal to pray for 10,000 hours in a year. Our tagline was to “pray like we’ve never prayed before.” We each logged the hours we spent worshiping and asking God to move in our ministry on a shared spreadsheet. Sometimes we prayed alone, sometimes in pairs, and sometimes in groups.
Like most audacious goals, we started off strong and began to trail off. We were losing steam, and many of us, myself included, thought it was impossible to catch up. During our retreat in February, our teams got stirred up again, but no one really noticed how much God was moving our hearts. Suddenly it dawned on us — if we keep pace, we’re actually going to do this. This week we crossed the finish line, and so the celebrations began. Our Stateside team went out for Thai food! It was a miracle born of committed people and God coming through for us.
Setting goals to pray for a certain amount of time forces you to face challenges and questions you don’t if you just do what feels natural. “Here I am again in this room, running out of things to say.” “I honestly don’t want to do this right now.” “What’s the point? Do I really think God is going to do more just because I babble more or longer?” For me, the end result of not giving up was my heart for prayer being expanded. When you first start running, a mile feels like a mountain. Now I don’t get warmed up until at least a mile. And I believe in prayer more now than ever!